Submitted photo While he lives in Alaska, Michael Bolan, born and raised in the Mahoning Valley, still has a house on Emerald Street in the quiet Smoky Hollow neighborhood. Along with his family, the pharmacist is part of a revitalizing effort in Smoky Hollow.

YOUNGSTOWN — Michael Bolan may live 4,000 miles away, but he still has a home in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood near the Youngstown State University campus, where he stays when he comes home to visit.

Bolan, 55, is a pharmacist at Bassett Army Community Hospital at Fort Wainwright, Alaska, which is in Fairbanks. He is the seventh of 11 children and has two older brothers, four older sisters, one younger brother and three younger sisters.

He was born at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital and grew up in Columbiana County, where his father, Robert, a Korean War-era Navy veteran, was a pharmacist and his mother, Ruth, was a homemaker. He graduated from Crestview High School in Columbiana and then earned an associate degree in hospitality management at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island.

Bolan followed in his father’s footsteps and joined the Navy in his early 20s. He went to boot camp in Orlando, Florida, where he said “the weather was so beautiful even in the dead of winter, unlike in Ohio.” He trained for two years as a nuclear technician in Orlando and South Carolina before being stationed on the USS South Carolina in Norfolk, Virginia, for four years.

“My dad also was stationed in Norfolk, but on a different ship,” Bolan said.

As a nuclear electrician’s mate, he and the crew generated power for the ship from the nuclear plant and were in charge of the ship’s electrical systems.

After his discharge from the Navy, Bolan returned to Youngstown and started attending YSU, where he studied environmental sciences.

“YSU was so exciting. The Navy was physically and mentally challenging. YSU was challenging, but in a different way. It was a lot of fun going there when (Jim) Tressel was the football coach and we won several national championships,” Bolan said.

He graduated from YSU in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science and went on to earn a master’s degree in the same field in 2009. It was while he was attending YSU that his parents bought a house on Emerald Street in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood and his family eventually acquired all eight row houses on the street and started restoring them.

“My sister, Sarah, who is the second oldest, lives at one end of the street, and my sister, Theresa, (the third youngest) lives at the other end with her adult daughter. My house is in the middle, and that is where I stay when I come home to visit,” Bolan said.

His sister, Katie, lived in one of the Emerald Street homes and raised her two children there, but she recently moved to Berea. However, like Bolan, she stays there when she comes to Youngstown.

Bolan said the homes, which his mother referred to as “cookie-cutter homes,” were built for steel workers and he would like to see all of them restored to a livable condition for YSU students or professors. He said four of the homes are complete, while the other four are “works in progress.”

After earning his master’s degree from YSU, Bolan decided to attend pharmacy school at the University of Toledo, again following in his father’s footsteps. His mother grew up near Toledo and met his father, who was from the South Side of Youngstown, while he was in pharmacy school.

Bolan lived with his maternal grandmother while in pharmacy school and helped her with day-to-day chores and activities until she died. After graduating and passing his pharmacy board exam, Bolan got a part-time job as a pharmacist at CVS in Mahoning County.

“It was a great place to start my career. The technicians were phenomenal and very supportive of me as a new pharmacist,” he said.

The job was only part-time, so Bolan started applying for full-time pharmacy jobs all over the country. He ended up applying for the position at the Army hospital in Fort Wainwright, which is run by the Department of Defense.

“Working for the military as a civilian has been a rewarding experience. We serve soldiers and their families, as well as veterans, which is a great honor,” Bolan said.

He has lived in Fairbanks for seven years.

“It has been an adventure for sure,” he said while in town last week. “I have seen moose and other wildlife, but I have not seen any bears.”

He said the cold and darkness are the most difficult part of living in Alaska, but he enjoys hiking, ice skating and ice fishing, noting he tries to stay active and do outside activities even when it is 40 below zero.

“I don’t want to be defeated by the cold weather,” Bolan said.

He also said that ice sculptors come to Fairbanks from all over the world to create frozen works of art, which last for a long time because of the extended winter.

Bolan grew up at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in East Palestine but attended SS. Cyril and Methodius Church, where his parents belonged, while attending YSU. Once that church closed, Bolan attends Mass at St. Columba or Our Lady of Mount Carmel when he comes to town.

“My faith is very important to me and going to Mass makes me feel connected to the community,” he said.

The church he attends in Fairbanks, Immaculate Conception, is located on the Chena River. It used to be on one side of the river but it had to be moved, so crews dragged it across the frozen river to the other side.

“I come back to Youngstown at least once a year, twice if I am lucky,” Bolan said. “This area still is home to me.”